Regular self-administered oral care is an important part of maintaining the condition of teeth and gums. Recommendations for teeth brushing, for example, call for performing the activity multiple times per day, both for adults and children. All too often, however, teeth brushing is performed below recommended standards, e.g., for less than a recommended time interval, less than a suggested number of times per day, or without sufficiently cleaning all teeth. Reasons for not performing teeth brushing to recommended standards can include, for example, time and effort required to satisfactorily clean all teeth in the top and bottom jaw, user boredom during the activity, and lack of interest in performing a chore-like activity that is not fun and engaging (the latter concern can be particularly powerful for young children).
Attempts to address the above-mentioned and other issues regarding teeth brushing have produced a number of variations on the traditional tooth brush design. For example, electrically-actuated toothbrushes in conventional form (i.e., a long cylindrical device with a small bristled head for cleaning a small subset of teeth at any time) are common to aid teeth brushing effectiveness. In addition, alternative tooth brush designs exist, such as mouthpieces with bristled surfaces that attempt to clean all of a user's teeth at one time.
However, there are a number of drawbacks associated with existing devices. For example, conventional toothbrushes and equivalent electrically actuated toothbrushes still require a user to hold and manipulate the toothbrush by hand to clean all teeth. The bristled head of these brushes can clean only a couple teeth at any one time. Teeth brushing mouthpiece designs can clean all teeth at once, but are often complex devices that are expensive to manufacture and can break easily. For example, certain devices utilize mouthpieces with channels that surround teeth on three sides that all have bristles attached thereto. Forming such a mouthpiece and attaching bristles to such a complex shape can be challenging and expensive. In other examples, complex mechanisms for actuating bristles are included, such as individual rotating bristle bunches, or groups of bristles that translate back and forth via a rod or other driving linkage. Moreover, even when mouthpiece designs are utilized, they often are configured to couple to a handheld battery and/or control component that is held by a user for the duration of the teeth cleaning. Finally, none of the prior art devices provide any features that aid in engaging a user during the tooth brushing activity, so as to mitigate boredom and provide a positive incentive for performing the activity.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved oral care devices and methods that provide hands-free, efficient, and effective cleaning of teeth. Further, there is a need for such improved devices that also provide a mechanism for engaging users during teeth brushing.